Help celebrate the publication of ’30 Days a Black Man’

On Saturday evening, in a beautifully restored and re-purposed old city firehouse in the heart of Pittsburgh, there’s going to be a semi-gala book publication party for my new book 30 Days A Black Man.

Don’t expect a jazz band or any hard booze at the Firehouse at 7101 Penn Ave. in Point Breeze. But starting at 7 the beer, pop and Pelligrino water will be flowing. An array of Mediterranean appetizers from nearby Istanbul Sofra will please all but the most diehard pierogi addict.

Rae Sprigle Kurland, the smart and wonderful daughter of the star-filled history book’s No. 1 star, Post-Gazette super-reporter Ray Sprigle, will travel from eastern Pa. to be the honored guest.

A 8 p.m. she and I will be gently interrogated for about 20 minutes by former PG book editor Bob Hoover, who is producing the event and has issued invites to the city’s thriving book community.

The Mayor of Pittsburgh and other dignitaries have been invited, but who knows who will show up. Part of my family, plus friends and former PG and Pittsburgh Trib colleagues will attend.

So will John M. Brewer Jr., the author of Kingpins of Pittsburgh. His history of the numbers barons, entrepreneurs, sports icons and businessmen and women who built the Hill District into one of America’s greatest black neighborhoods covers the same post-WII era I do in my book.

Email: xpaperboy@gmail.com. if you read this and want to attend, show up.